I had a question for nurses who have been preceptors to new nurses, whether you liked it or not Did you spend all your time with the new nurse as she took care of her the patients or did you leave... Read More

We only start them out on stable kids, sure one can go bad, but that is why the preceptor is there.

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AHA! There we have the crux of the situation from the OPs viewpoint. Her preceptor is NOT THERE, for hours at a time.

All of our discussion has politely avoided the main concept...missing preceptor...and led the discussion into different (ephemerally related) topics about patient loads and acuity.

Her problem is that her preceptor is not available to her, a new nurse in (to most new nurses) the scariest place in the hospital...for sometimes hours at a time.

We could train a monkey to do vitals, change a diaper and feed 3 feeder/growers q3. But that monkey can't respond when that kid crumps. Neither can a new nurse...even with four WHOLE WEEKS of orientation. 4 weeks of orientation might be as few as 8-10 shifts.

Apr 26, '12

On a lighter note, I sure have been enjoying the activity we've had lately in the NICU forum. Love being able to pick y'alls brains and try to expand my limited knowledge.

Apr 26, '12

I think I did say she needs to speak up. And hopefully this person's coworkers say something too...we had one preceptor like that and we were on her like ducks on junebugs. Sometimes you have to be your own advocate since no one else will. Our orientors have meetings with our CNS and UM on a weekly basis, so something like this would have been nipped in the bud if the person mentioned it. And if she disappeared for hours, then she needs to speak up.

Apr 28, '12

Bortaz hit the nail on the head. It is grossly inappropriate for the preceptor to be out of the room for hours at a time, period!! The amount of time the orientee has been working there is irrelevent. As long as he/she is on orientation that preceptor needs to be available at a moment's notice. All it takes is one incident and one savvy parent to find out that the person taking care of his baby is in training and her "teacher" was nowhere to be found. Shame on that preceptor. I have been training new hires (both with experience and new grads) for more than 10 years and I am horrified at this preceptor's actions. Her manager needs to know what is going on before something very bad happens, for everyone's sake.

Apr 30, '12

I am a new NICU nurse as well. I have finished my orientation and have been on my own for 5 months. Your preceptor should not be leaving you that long. This is a very specialized field with a huge learning curve. They don't teach you this in nursing school. Its very emotional and overwhelming. NICU nurses i have been told eat their young. I have had some rough times during orientation. I know how you feel I had a infiltration during orientation I felt horrible. My advice is if you dont feel comfortable with your preceptor than ask for a new one. I would straight up tell your preceptor that you are uncomfortable with her leaving (she shouldn't be leaving that long) if that doesn't solve it talk to the Charge Nurse. It does get better and infitration does happen. Learn from your mistake and apply it to be a better NICU nurse. I have had a lot of emotional days at the NICU and sometimes wonder why I choose this field, but it does get better. Always ask questions even if the nurses don't want to give answers always, always, ask questions. you will learn to like it. if you have questions let me know Its rough being the new nurse... GOOD LUCK